Comatose
by The Terracrafter
Summary: When Ryan is put into a coma, he'll wake up to a dead and diseased ridden world, left to pick up the shattered pieces of what his life had been. With no memory, friends or family. (Also this is my first fanfiction so criticism is gladly welcomed)
1. Sleep

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the creation of the special infected that will be used in future chapters, nor do the characters such as Bill, Zoey, Francis, and Louis, these all belong to Valve.

I couldn't escape; no matter how fast I ran or what I did, there's no escaping _it_. Cat-like shrieks rang in my ears as I ran down the dark corridor.

"_Do I dare look behind me?"_ I continually asked myself, deciding against the better part of my brain pleading not to, I turn my head to look back at what was chasing me. I couldn't see anything in the dark except for two piercing red orbs behind me; fear surged through my body like I was being electrocuted. My knees buckled, making my body collapse onto the floor below me, the red orbs were getting closer and the shrieks were getting louder.

"_This is it." _ I thought to myself as the creature came upon me like an oncoming storm.

My eyes shot open to see I wasn't a dark corridor but safe in my bedroom. The shrieks from the creature that chased me in my dreams still rang in my ears, slowly dying away like an echo. I've been having the same nightmare for the past few months now, and each time the creature seems to be closer and closer to me when I finally wake up. I shifted my eyes to the alarm clock I had besides my bed, **7:15** it read.

_Damn I'm going be late._

I quickly rolled off my bed and fell onto the floor, using that extra jolt from the fall to wake me up. Reaching on top of the night stand I grabbed my glasses before I got up onto my feet and opened up my drawer and pulled out my clothes, I quickly pulled on pair jeans, my favorite Doctor Who T-shirt and my denim over shirt. Digging deeper into my drawer I found a pair of socks and ran out my bedroom door. I rushed into the kitchen noticing that my breakfast had been set: fried eggs with buttered toast.

_Thanks Mom you're a doll_

I scarfed down my breakfast, and washed it down with a glass of water. I then grabbed my bag and pocket watch I set besides the table, only pausing to yell _"Love you"_ and rushed out the front door. Usually I'm not like this; usually I'm up bright and early making my own breakfast and lunch so my mom could sleep in, but for the past few weeks I've become more and more tired in the morning and restless at night, I think it's because of that freakish nightmare I have every other night. It seems to be more draining than I thought.

I pulled out my pocket watch, it read: **7:25, **I think I could make it in time. The school bus drops by at 7:30 two blocks away, if I cut a few corners at break neck speed I should be able to make it right on time. Sprinting around a corner I notice the bus of in the distance, crap it's early. Making my legs go as fast as possible I zoom by early morning joggers with ease, only one kid was left in line to board the bus, I screamed "Wait for me!" The last kid turns around and sees me; he points towards me and says something to the bus driver. I then scraped to a stop in front of the double doors and climbed onboard. As I climb up the steps the bus driver gives a slight tsk before closing the doors, I made it.

I looked around the bus as I stopped to take a breather, I notice the kid who told the bus driver sitting in the front seat.

"Thanks….I... Owe…You." I gasped between breaths; the kid mumbled "No problem." Careful not to look at me as if it would turn him to stone; oh yeah did I mention I'm the least liked kid in the school? For some reason people think I'm the prime candidate for name calling and beating, you would begin to think that at least the name calling would stop at high school- nope it only gets worse.

"Hey Kendick." Somebody called from the aisles of seats, now this is mock up of my name: Ryan Kendrick, for some reason people thought it was clever it get rid of the R in my last name so it sounded like Ken-Dick instead of Ken-Drick; people have been using that as my name ever since the 4th grade when they just managed to figure out that dick was another word for penis. Promptly ignoring this remark I walk down the aisle searching for my one and only friend Nicole Jacobs. Nicole and I go way back, ever since the 4th grade just when people started to pick me as a punching bag she was the only one who defended me against them. We soon became friends and made a pact that we would watch each other's backs for the years to come. Her light and happy mood always use to cheer me up even in the saddest of times; like when my father abandoned us. It seems like mom and dad were always fighting back then, whether it be late at night or early in the morning they would always be at each other's throats about one thing or another. Eventually my dad decided he had enough of us and left without even giving a second glance. I was ten at the time so finding out that your dad didn't love you or even couldn't stand to look at you again was like having your heart ripped out and thrown to the trash. Most mornings I couldn't even be bothered to get up and out of bed, my mother feeling worried brought me to a psychiatrist because she was too busy trying to work extra shifts at the hospital to keep us going. Despite their best efforts neither the psychiatrist nor my mom could make me feel better about the situation. The only person who seemed to take my mind off about my father was Nicole, she would always be there slipping her hand into mine telling me: _"I'm here for you."_

Nicole was always there for me, she always saw the best parts of life; but life will eventually kick you down in some way or another, for Nicole it was the death of her mom. Nicole lived with both her parents; her mother Amy Jacobs, was a sweet woman and often sat down with me to sympathize about the situation my mother and I were in. Her father Brian Harley, though was often abusive towards both of them, and came home most of the time drunk and in a bad mood; I've only had the displeasure of meeting Nicole's father two times. Her mother was the only person between Nicole and her father; usually when Nicole's father would come home he would be looking for something to beat on because his job actually required him to listen to orders and he didn't like that at all. One night during our summer vacation Nicole's father just snapped and for some reason beat her mother down, until it came to the point where Nicole had to call the police to stop him. Nicole's mother died while being driven to the hospital and her father was arrested for the premeditated murder of Amy Jacobs. In one cruel hour, life had taken away Nicole's mother, father, and Nicole herself in a way.

For the rest of summer vacation Nicole stayed with me and my mother, I originally planned to take up a summer job so I could make it a bit easier for my mom with the bills, but that was swiftly changed to take care of my best friend. Nearing the end of our summer vacation I thought I was finally going to get my friend back but that ended with four knocks on my front door. I opened the door to find Jacob Harley and a couple of his buddies from work; turns out these buddies of his chipped in and bailed him out of jail. Now he was back a wanted Nicole back as well.

I saw Nicole sitting by the window and immediately sat down besides her. "Cutting it kind of close, don't you think?" She mumbled. "Still made it on time didn't I?" I replied. Her face was monotone, but I could see in her eyes she was hurting. I slipped my hand into hers and gave a gentle squeeze, _"I'm here for you." _ She gave my hand a gentle squeeze back, _"I know."_

The bell rang noisily signifying the end of the day, as I packed my bag I noticed Nicole walking out the door; shoving my text books into my bag I ran after her into the hall. I eventually caught up to her, and noticed something strange as we walked together, underneath her long sleeves I notice a purple patch of skin showing. "Nicole; stop for a second." I murmured. As I slowly pulled up her sleeve bruises and welts lay scattered across her arm. "That son of a bitch…." I growled. I look back up to her face to notice tears are streaming down "Nicole you don't have to-"I began but was cut short by Nicole shaking her head furiously. "Yes I do, I have nobody else but him, I don't have a choice." She said as the tears streamed down faster. "Nicole you know that's not true." I said. Again she shook her head furiously before saying "It is true, and you've known it too-don't deny it, he doesn't like you, in fact he's never liked you, not since the first time he's laid his eyes on you. Enough to the point of hurting you, and I can't allow that."

It _was _true, I realized it was a possibility ever since he came back to get Nicole. I still stuck with her though because she deserved better than that asshole, she deserved to be with the people that care about her, not _him_. I felt Nicole pull her wrist out of my grip and walked off.

"Good Bye." She said, not even giving me a second glance. I wanted yell after her, but the words were caught in my throat, my feet wouldn't move they were glued to the sidewalk; I could only look at her as she walked down the sidewalk, and walked out of my life.

"And for our tops news tonight, it seems that some kind of new virus has been spreading along the coast of Miami sending dozens of people to the hospital; symptoms include paling of the skin, violent coughing, and severe hysteria, scientists are still trying to find what this disease is and how it is spreading; more details after the break." The news anchor reported, even though his voice rang throughout the room none of it really got to me. I felt abandoned, left to live life's cruel little game it set up for me that I'd have to play by myself now. Despite the hurt that swelled in my chest, it was nothing compared to the feeling of guilt and concern I felt for Nicole, having to live with her father, a sadistic ass, having no one to be there for her, she deserves better. My outrage for the situation grew at the thought of Nicole's father; I _hated_ him so much, for ruining everything.

_That's it_

I couldn't stand it any longer, I jumped off my couch and stomped to the umbrella stand we kept by the front door. I grabbed the bat out of the stand, I never knew why we kept there and I will never care, the only thing that mattered was getting Nicole back. I unlocked the front door and ran out, not even bothering to close it, because I wouldn't be gone for long, no not long at all.

Walking down the sidewalk, house after house I immediately recognized the building I visited once as a little kid. I crossed the lawn to the front of the door, it was open, and so Brian must have come home early. Once I got onto the porch I could hear his voice screaming: "WHAT DID YOU TELL HIM?" followed by a thwack. I immediately knew what was going on and bolted through the door, the scene opened up to me: Brian was standing over Nicole his back turned to me, wielding a cane. Nicole herself was using the wall as support her face and arms covered in cuts and bruises, her eyes swiftly met mine as I stood there taking in what was happening. Brian must have noticed her eyes too as he slowly turned around, but it was too late. I brought the knob of the bat across the bridge of his nose with a satisfying _crack_. He dropped the cane as he clutched his nose screaming in pain. Without a second's notice I hit Brian's shin with bat causing him to collapse to the ground. I threw the bat away having done its job, before embracing Nicole with a hug. Hearing her gasp slightly I remembered the cut and bruises on her before I let go. Her expression was terrified as she looked at me, then she turned her eyes to the crumpled heap on the floor sobbing, "The extent of his injuries is a broken nose and one bruise, he'll be fine sadly" I said. Nicole brought her eyes back to me before nodding. "Why did-"

"I'm here for you Nicole; I've come to take you away from here, I can't allow this to happen anymore."

"But what if he comes to take me back again?'

"He won't come back; those bruises and cuts are enough evidence for an organization like UNICEF to separate the both of you."

Nicole stood there motionless before looking at me and asking: "But what about you?"

"I don't care about what happens to me, just so long as I know you're safe I'll gladly accept the charges, because Nicole _this _is where everything changes." I explained. I slipped my hand into Nicole's and squeezed gently, she looked up at me with a smile slowly spreading across her face, and it vanished instantly, fear replacing it, "RYAN LO-"But for me it was already too late. Pain explode inside my head as the bat struck the side, I fell to the ground like a rag doll. Darkness filled my vision, having Nicole's voice scream distantly. "That's what happens, you little shit" Brian's voice echoed.

"NO PLEASE, RYAN COME BACK." Nicole sobbed, her voice growing more and more distant. "No, not you too." Is all I heard before the Darkness completely engulfed me.


	2. Awakening

I was floating; floating in complete darkness not sure where I am or what I was doing here but all I knew was pain, a screaming pain on the side of my head. I had no idea of the passage of time, what could have been hours could only have felt like a matter of seconds.

"Where am I?" I spoke into the darkness. "I don't know where I am." I said with an edge of panic in my voice now. I reached out into the darkness only then noticing my hands weren't there. I immediately looked down to find where my body should have been, was only darkness. I was a singular drop of conscience in a sea of nothing. I felt a chill run down my non-existent spine, as a familiar voice rippled through the dark. I couldn't understand what exactly the voice said; it was like the voice was muffled by some sort of wall. Yet again the muffled voice echoed through my mind, this time the voice sounded in small short bursts, like sobbing. The muffled sobs were cut short by a secondary voice. I strained my hypothetical ears to better understand what it was saying, but to no avail. It boomed through the dark like a bad headache. Then it stopped, there was nothing but silence and the dark. Trepidation struck through me like lightning as I realized I was alone.

I couldn't turn, I couldn't blink, and I couldn't even speak anymore. I could only stay still, as the foundations of my sanity slowly cracked and crumbled, But there it was, a feeling in the back of my mind growing like a root slowly to my neck, then my back, and eventually to my lower body. The darkness fractured across my vision, allowing narrow beams of light in. A new feeling ran through me: hope. It coursed in me, I will get out this darkness, I will find those voices and who they belonged to, I will get out _now_. The dark then shattered entirely as I opened my eyes to the bright room around me.

I allowed my eyes to adjust to the light coming through the window of my room. It was a rather small room only allowing enough space to fit a small table, and two chairs beside the bed I was laying on. I was covered with a thin blanket, with only my feet sticking out. I began to sit up onto my bed, only to be stopped by a familiar pain on the side of my head. Wincing slightly I slowly reached up and felt the area where it most hurt, it felt strange in the same way when you crash a car into a wall, the feeling of deformity. I quickly shoved that to the back of my mind and swung my legs over the bed. My legs felt like they were marble sacks as I put my full weight, causing me to stumble towards the window. Each step felt like my feet were being absorbed into the floor, nearly making me fall to my knees, in a last ditch effort I leaned onto the wall for support. Slowly but surely I made my way to the open door which lead to a cramped bathroom. My throat felt dry and my body thirst for water, I immediately made for the sink and turn the faucet on, but before I made an attempt to drink I noticed the water flowing was black and reeked of filth. Disheartened I stumbled back into my room. I then walked towards the front door and opened it.

I walked into the hallway as the feeling in my legs came back to me. The hallway was deserted; most of the lights were shot, with only a few over head lamps to light the way. Medical equipment, clipboards, and such littered the floor. There were only two ways I could go: left, or right. I opted out going right because that way was more brightly lit. I slowly began to walk down the hall, still using the wall as support. This didn't feel right, what could have made so many people drop their stuff and disappear?

My answer soon came as a screech from around the corner; it was soon followed by a couple of gun shots. Even though I was considerable distance away, the shots reverberated causing me to cup my ears. A figure ran from around the corner, heading straight towards my direction. Whoever it was seem to take notice of me and started to turn back around, but before they even had a chance a shadow pounced on top of the figure knocking them to the ground. The shadow screeched yet again, and started taking swipes at the person below them. Screams of pain emanated from the huddle, and I immediately started looking on the floor for something I could use. A glint of shiny silver caught my eye; I wrapped my fingers around the scalpel and stumbled towards the creature. As I got closer, the attacker was covered in a stained black hoodie, where the hoodie didn't cover the attacker's skin I noticed was a dark gray. With each swipe, I noticed the creature had claws instead of finger nails.

Despite I was considerably close to the attacker, it never noticed me. It wasn't until I was close enough and shouted "HEY ASSHOLE." Did it look up at me, just in time for me to stab its eye with a scalpel. The creature screeched in pain as it backed off the person, with a silver handle sticking of its socket. It now looked at me; its remaining eye was a bright yellow, now glowing harshly. Whatever it was, it now had my scent. The creature growled, and started sprinting towards me. I had no more tricks up my sleeve; I was defenseless, and in no shape to run away. I closed my eyes and cringed, anticipating those claws to dig into my skin. That though was cut short by the sound of a gunshot. I opened my eyes in time the creature stumble towards me slightly before falling down at my feet with a bullet hole through its head.

"Damn Hunters." The stranger whispered. I rushed over to my savior and kneeled down next to them. It was a young woman, around my age. Her dark brown hair was tied up into a pony tail; her face was covered in dirt, bruises, and the occasional cut. I looked down to her mid section, her chest and stomachs had slashes across them, and were bleeding profusely. The woman's breathing became shallow. I looked around her, and found the bag she was carrying. I rummaged inside looking for something to use. Surprisingly, this woman was carrying a full med pack which I immediately grabbed and opened. Inside was a large container of anti-biotic cream, a few meters of gauss, a sewing kit, and a bottle of pain pills. I popped open the bottle of pain pills and picked out two.

"I'm going to have you take these; they'll help stop the pain." I said, trying to be the most calming I could be. She accepted the pills with any refusal; now it was time to clean the wounds. I lifted the woman's torn shirt, revealing two large slashes, one on her stomach, and the other on the lower part of her chest. I never really had any medical training, but that didn't matter now, I could only try and hope for the best. I took the anti-biotic cream a dabbed it over the wounds, the next thing I could do was to apply padding to stem the bleeding. I grabbed a few padded sheets of fluff, I never really knew what these were called, I could hardly think anybody could-but that didn't matter now. I applied the padding, and then unrolled the gauss. A few meters was all I needed, I wrapped the gauss over the stomach wound first trying my best to keep the wrap tight but not enough that I was breaking her rib cages. The padding now became a light shade of scarlet as I wrapped the gauss over the chest wound. Hoping my sloppy, medical service doesn't kill my patient I now moved to any small cuts that around her arms or shoulders. There was next to no cuts whatsoever except a long gash across her forearm. I dabbed on the rest of the anti-biotic, before opening the sewing kit. My hands shook, uncontrollably as I tried to thread the needle, after many pricked fingers, and quiet curses I got the thread through the eye of the needle.

If there was anybody out there who was a doctor, I should have myself checked for Parkinsons disease because my hands shook to the point where I had to stop and clutch them to my chest. I began stitching the woman's arm, my stitches were sloppy and uneven, even my hands shaking started again, but after many moments I felt like crying, I finished finally.

I sat back onto the wall behind me, looking over the poor soul I had to treat, something clicked in my mind. I looked down to my body and realized: I was wearing a patient's gown, covered in blood. I pushed this thought to back of my mind with all the other things I was going to contemplate at a future time and waited for my heart rate to normalize.

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"Shit." I said when the sudden realization came to me that I was separated from my group. I should have realized it sooner when I stopped hearing Francis's bullshit comebacks to Bill's orders. Panic swiftly surged through the back of my mind, I needed to find my way back and soon. I ran down the hospital's hallways in search of my friends, straining my ears for anything that sounds remotely like a gunshot. I took out my pistol, dropping my empty shotgun or "Boomstick" as Francis would call it to the floor. We never should have come here, we were in need of finding some extra med packs on the way out of Miami, but goddamn I'd never think I would get lost here. The underwhelming amount of infected here was unsettling, or maybe I've just gotten use to the sound of the undead after gunning down waves upon waves of them.

Though I might have spoken too soon; I stopped to catch my breath in the middle of a T-section when I heard the all too familiar screech of a Hunter, followed by another. I looked to both sides of the T-section, with a Hunter on each side running towards me. "Now that's just not fair" I spoke, mostly for myself. I sprinted down the last remaining hall that wasn't blocked. I could hear the screeches of both Hunters beginning their chase. Normally with my team, two Hunters were about as affective as a piss in the wind, but now with me all by my lonesome with only a pistol, the odds were more in the Hunters' favor. I looked back, despite my better judgment and fired off a couple shots, most of them missed but I could tell one met its target because one of the two Hunters quickly fell behind its partner screeching in pain.

I couldn't go on like this for long; they would eventually get me if I didn't find my team soon. Rounding a corner I entered another hallway littered with junk just like the rest of this god forsaken hospital except my pathway was block by another infected, it didn't look so hot but causing me to skitter to a stop all the same. I turned around to see if the Hunter was still behind me, only to be knocked onto the floor. The god awful creature then began to take swipes at me, I covered my face with my arms effectively blocking most of the strikes aimed for my head. Though I wasn't so lucky with my abdomen, with its current blows not being as effective as it thought it would be the Hunter aimed for the lower part of my chest and stomach. Each swipe brought a searing pain across my body; I began screaming in pain as the Hunter slashing my torso with its razor sharp claws.

"_So this is it." _I thought wryly to myself. I often thought I'd be a survivor amongst the rubble that was once society, but no I end up as one of these creepy fucker's meals. I relaxed my muscles as I finally gave up, wasn't much of a spectacular end as I thought it would be but it woul-

"HEY ASSHOLE" A voice roared above me. I opened my eyes to see the Hunter that was going to be my would-be killer get stabbed in the eye with a scalpel. The Hunter howled in pain as it stumbled off my body. But that wouldn't last long, and sure enough the Hunter found its new target and started sprinting towards that poor fool. Darkness clouded the edges of my vision, but with the last of my energy I pulled off one last shot aimed straight for the Hunter's head. I watched as my target stumble a couple of feet and fall to the floor dead. The expression of surprise on that kid's face was almost worth getting mauled, I quietly chuckled to myself."Damn Hunters." I said. Looking down at my torso I notice two streaks of blood soak through my shirt. I look back up to see my rescuer looking down on me. So he wasn't an infected after all, damn if I'd ran past him I probably wouldn't be in be in this situation in the first place, maybe I'd be with my team right now, maybe I'd survive to see another day, but I didn't and it doesn't really matter now. My rescuer immediately grabbed my bag and started rummaging through it. Of course he'd take my belongings; he's probably going to need it more than I will. I looked back up to the ceiling with a stupid grin across my face; _I'd shoot you kid, if I had the energy._ I noticed that he's stopped looking through my bag, and has my belongings spread out across the floor, but what; I couldn't see. _That kid _I have deemed him to be now is kneeling over me as he speaks, I couldn't really understand what he said, and everything seemed muffled, like I have the world's most padded ear plugs. He holds out his hand showing me two pain pills, and everything seemed to be so clear now, he wasn't abandoning me; he was _saving_ me. I gladly took the pain pills, as he began to clean my wounds. After a few minutes the searing pain across my body became like an uncomfortable sleeping position. Now that he was closer, I could see him a little more clearly now. His black hair tumbled down his face, probably didn't get a haircut for some while now. His eyes were amber, and flecked with green. He seemed to be around sixteen-seventeen. Strange thing was that he was wearing a patient's gown speckled with blood. Strangest thing of all his was face was monotone, but you could see in his eyes, in the deeper corner, there was a hint of sorrow. Who the hell was this kid? My vision blackened, with the help of the pain pills I passed out on the hospital floor.

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I watched as the sun started to set through the windows, it was time to hide somewhere. I looked back down to the woman as I reached underneath her and picked her up. I trudged into my room labeled in bold letters: **236. **I laid the woman onto the bed, and locked the door. Despite my best efforts I haven't been able to escape this room, maybe things will change with what the morning brings.


	3. Scavenge

"_Good morning class, I'd like to introduce you to Ryan Kendrick." _ A strange woman wearing a toothy smile spoke as she placed her hand on my shoulder. I looked over to the class; nobody seemed too excited about my presence. I looked back to the strange woman only to be met with two piercing yellow eyes staring back at me. I stumbled backwards, away from the "Hunter", I then turned away and ran to the desks. Nobody seemed to notice that their teacher has turned into a blood thirsty creature. All of them seemed to busy day dreaming, or doodling on the desks. Before I could ponder what was going on I heard a screech orientating from the front of the class room. The Hunter began sprinting towards me knocking down desks, and students in its wake. I backed up towards the wall, only to meet nothing. Yet again I looked over my shoulder to see I wasn't in a class room anymore but a small neighborhood in the middle of the night.

_What the hell is going on?_ I couldn't trust anything here, but where the hell was I? The neighborhood looked familiar, but I hadn't the foggiest Idea what or where it could be. I looked back to see if the Hunter was still there, but in its place stood three boys. They looked about my age, maybe a little bit older. Each of them stared at like I was meat, as they cracked their knuckles in that sort of stereotypical bully kind of way. I couldn't take all three of them by myself. While weighing the chances of making a clean escape by simply running the other way I felt a slight tug on my left hand. I looked down to see a little girl pulling down on my wrist; she looked about ten or eleven years old. She wore a pair of small jeans and a pink t-shirt reading: "Num. 1 Learner" The little girl got up onto the tips of her toes and whispered: "Run."

Without second thought I ran in the opposite direction of the three kids and followed the little girl. Somehow she ran ahead of me, continually pulling and tugging on my wrist. Looking over my shoulder I notice the three kids managed to keep up to a relatively close distance. I looked back over to the little girl and immediately noticed that she grew older, about three years. The now teenage girl wore a grin across her face as she continuously tugged on my wrist. The girl seemed to be having a great time as we ran for our lives, in front of me I could hear her laughing profusely. Struggling to piece what was happening together, a wave of pain washes over the side of my head. I felt the deformed section of my skull, wincing at the pain. I looked back at the girl and notice she changed yet again, she grew a couple of inches taller, her hair became darker and longer. I couldn't hear her laughing anymore; in fact I could hear quiet sobs emanating from the girl in front of me. Before I could realize what was happening the girl tugged on my wrist one last time causing me to stumble and fall face first into the road.

My eyes shot open to see not the street I was running on, but the hospital room. I blinked stupidly in the morning sun light. I felt a tug on my wrist, turning my neck I saw the girl lying on the hospital bed, with her hand holding mine. She stared at me with shockingly blue eyes, once she noticed that she got my attention, the girl dropped my hand and settled back in. With reluctance, I got up from my chair, bending my neck until a deep _crack_ resound through my spine. I examined my patient's bandages; the blood soaked through most of the layers, giving me the sign that I probably should change them. I dug through the remains of the medical pack and rolled out the gauss. Along with the gauss I picked out two pain pills. The girl accepted them with no hesitation; it seems that the pills wore out over night, causing considerable pain over time, hell of a way of waking up. With only a couple a meters left I could only one layer of bandage around the slashes.

With my work done I took a step back and assessed the situation. We had no food, medical supplies, help, and I was in a patient's gown. No matter how many times I looked at the situation it lead to only one choice: I had to go scavenge supplies in this god forsaken place. I felt a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, that "Hunter" probably wasn't the only one; meaning I could get jumped by another, and be left out there somewhere as it's meal. Leaning back against the wall my eyes fell upon the girl lying uncomfortably in the hospital bed. If I didn't look for supplies then death would be certain. With the sinking feeling in my stomach getting worse, I walked towards the door and unlocked it. I turned around and looked at the girl. "I'm going to look for supplies, just stay here and with any luck your wounds will heal soon." I spoke in a solemn tone. She just stared at me and nodded. With that I turned the handle and walked out the door.

The hallway greeted me with the flashing of the singular light overhead. Nothing else has changed since yesterday, except for the slowly rotting corpse to the right of me. Carefully overstepping the corpse and the pool of blood emanating from it, I began walking down the hall scanning for anything that could be of use. Despite the floor being littered with random objects there was nothing I could use. I also had nothing to defend myself; this scared me more than anything. That gun the girl was carrying was empty having no reason to bring it with me. I strained my ears for the sound of shuffling feet or that horrible screech of a Hunter, but was met with nothing. This somehow unnerved me even more, the sound of dead silence felt unnatural, like railroad tracts in the middle of the forest; nevertheless I continued on. Reaching the end of the hallway I peeked around the corner wary of unwanted attention. The section looked clear; I walked around the corner and was immediately greeted with a sign that lit up my spirits. The sign shined in bright red letters reading:** Emergency Exit**.

I quicken my pace, stumbling over my own feet just to get to the door. Nearly sprinting towards the door like a kid running towards his bed after he turned the lights out, I grabbed the handle and opened the door, bursting into the staircase. Looking out the glass window embedded in the door; I saw nothing, absolutely nothing was chasing me, and yet my heart pounded inside my chest and in my ear drums. I looked up to see a large black sign on the wall in front of me reading: **F6.** Shaking myself, I began to head down the stairs. Everything was still dead silent, until I took a step down, my bare feet slapped against the cold concrete; the sound reverberated through the entire stair case and sounded no less loud than a gunshot to my ears. Freezing in place I could already hear that familiar drum beat in my ears: _ba-thump ba-thump ba-thump ba-thump. _I took a deep breath and began my descent; this was going to take a while.

After what seemed like hours, with the occasional panicked stop and straining of my ears for the sound of a Hunter, I finally had reached the ground floor. I reached for the door handle when I heard the sound of retching from the other side. The retching then turned into a deep belch. Despite my higher judgment I peeked through the window, immediately what I saw made my stomach turn. The bulbous figure standing next to the door had the same dead gray skin as the Hunter I accoutered before, but this creature's face was covered in large boils. Its stomach was large and bloated, there were boils growing on there too but it didn't seem like they were growing on the creature's skin but through it. Its arms were bloated and covered in boils, at the ends of its fingertips grew claws, not as long as the Hunter's but long enough to cause damage. It began retching again, vomiting up a small pool of bile before bumbling somewhere else. Soon after I could hear growling and three people came running up towards the pool of bile. They sniffed at it turning around to see if anybody was around. I ducked beneath the window before they could spot me. I sat there piecing together what I just saw, so not only were there Hunters; there were bloated fat people who's vomit attracted what seems to be regular kinds of creatures. Though what the hell happened? I couldn't remember my life before waking up but _I knew_ it wasn't like this obviously. What seemed to be going on was that mostly everybody here underwent some sort of mutation or infection.

I sat there waiting for the infected trio to wander off, but it seemed that they weren't going anywhere anytime soon. I could still hear the growls of the wanderers through the door; I began thinking of a different route I could take when I heard the sound of gunshots in the distance, it seemed that the infected noticed the gunshot shots too because I could hear the sound of shoes against tile and the growling grew ever more distant. Standing back up I looked through the window, the coast was clear. I turned the handle and opened the door. I stuck my head out and looked towards both ends of the hallway before walking out.

I scrambled over to the front desk, trying my best not to be seen. The front hall was brightly lit from the sunlight shining through the windows. I climbed over the front desk and began searching for anything I could use. Everything as expected was a mess, but as I sifted through piles of paper work scattered about the place I found a duffle bag stuffed inside a drawer. I wasn't one to question why there were empty duffle bags in the front desks of hospitals, I just thanked my luck. Besides the duffle bag I wasn't able to find anything that would be of any use, causing me to head back deeper into the bowls of this god forsaken hospital.

The hallway in front of me was rowed with doors; I walked down my eyes darting to each door looking for where my best chance for finding what I needed. My eyes fell upon a door labeled with bold letters:** Janitor**. Excitement built up in my chest as I opened the door and slipped through in a moment's notice. Chills ran through my spine as the familiar feeling of complete darkness surrounding me, I hated this feeling with a passion, darkness held secrets, and from here on out secrets meant death. I ran my hand along the wall feeling for a light switch, a feeling of relief washed over me as I felt the nub of the switch and flipped it. The singular light bulb sparked into life, illuminating the room before me. The janitor's closet was stuffed with random pieces of junk and cleaning supplies, with a lonely locked pushed into the corner. I navigated through the piles of junk to get to the locker and open the door. With the condition of the rest of the room I was surprised to see that the inside of the locker was neat and tidy. In the lower section of the locker a row of dark blue jumpsuits hung from the mid section. In the upper compartment stored a flash light, a couple of replacement batteries, a ring of keys, and something every good custodian should have; especially in a place as big as this hospital. "A map" I said as I unfolded the piece of paper. Feeling a mixture of relief and pride, I began making my through the trash when I knocked over a bottle of cleaning fluid spilling it over the floor. "Shit" I spoke quietly to myself, as I kicked the bottle away, clattering to the locker, as I watched the bottle roll under locker, I noticed something. I knelt down and picked up a leather covered book. A string kept the book tied shut; I began untying the knot when I heard the familiar growls of the infected in the distance.

"_Time to go" _ I thought to myself.

Using the map, I could see the layout of the entire hospital telling me exactly where I needed to go and find supplies. I walked the hallway, feeling slightly better with a torch in one hand while a map and a duffle bag in the other. While still having no weapon, I could always cave in the head of my attacker with the torch. The hall grew darker the deeper I went into the hospital; I switched on my flashlight and checked the map again. The map marked the "Medical Supplies" room around the corner to the left. I turned corner flashing my light down the walls, looking for the doors. I could hear growls of the infected as they echoed throughout the halls; this time it was closer, _much_ closer. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, I had to get out of there and quick. I began running down the hallway repeatedly looking at my map and checking the walls for the doors. The growling and screeching became louder and more frequent.

_They knew I was here._

I began sprinting down the hall; I didn't even bother checking the map anymore. I ran down the hall looking for anything I could hide in. Then there it was, like a beacon of light, two doors right next to the sign reading: **Medical Supplies**. I bolted to the double doors, and tried the handle; _locked_. "Shit, come on." I looked back at the map, and right by the doors, small penciled in words read: _key needed_. I immediately unzipped the duffle bag and pulled out the ring of keys. Looking back at the map, I noticed nothing else was written by the door.

"_Goddamn, no specific key?" _I thought to myself. I immediately was trying keys in the lock.

Key one couldn't fit, key two wouldn't turn. The screeches emanated from the hallway around the corner, growls and retches soon echoed throughout as well. I fitted key number three into the lock; it began to turn but got stuck. "Come on, you son of a bitch, _turn_." I yelled at it. Wiggling the key back and forth in the lock, I looked to both ends of the hallway, I couldn't see anything yet but judging from the echoes they weren't far back. I turned my attention back to the key; I added more force as the key slightly turned in the lock. "COME ON, WORK!" I screamed at the lock, and as if on cue the key turned,opening the door. I pulled out the key and rushed inside, closing the door and turning the lock back.

I leaned against the wall and slid to the floor, breathing a sigh of relief. My heart beat in my ears as beads of sweat slid down and onto my face. It wasn't until my heart rate regulated did I notice the sobs echoing throughout the room. I grabbed my flashlight and pointed it towards the end of the room; nothing was there except shelves of medical supplies that split of into a T-section. The sobs grew louder, coming from the right turn of the room. I got back up onto my feet and began walking towards the sobs.

"_A survivor, but how did they get in here?" _ I thought to myself. "Hello? Are you ok?" I called out. No response. "It's ok, I'm a friend." I continued. This time the sobbing stopped, I shine my flashlight down each aisle as I walked by looking for this survivor. I had reached the wall and turned to the last aisle pointing my flashlight down the aisle on the curled huddled mass of a person. "Hello?"

AN: I apologize for being a week late on this chapter; I only had small periods of time on the weekend and throughout the week to work on this so forgive me. Hopefully I can stick to my schedule and finish a chapter every weekend or so. So anyway see you next week and happy Labor Day.


	4. Abandon

Zoey's POV

Dad was driving us through town; he'd just finished building his '64 Mustang convertible and was dying to take it for a test drive with the rest of the family with him. He was always into building classic cars, even when I was little. I never truly understood what it was all about, and the only reason why I even knew the name was because he called me every Saturday night and obsessed over the damn thing. On those nights dad always said that he'd drive us through the country once he finished it; just him, mom, my brother Michael and me. To be honest I never believed he would actually do it, but here we were with dad driving, mom riding shot gun, Michael and me in the back, firmly shoving my own foot into my mouth, and yet I was never more happy to be wrong. Mom looked back at my brother and me smiling like I haven't seen in years, her graying dark brown hair whipping around in the wind. I turned towards Michael; he looked out the side of the car laughing as we zipped by buildings and houses, despite being sixteen the simplest things in life always made him smile. I sat back in the seat and closed my eyes; what this felt like was a dream come true, and for once in a very long time, I was truly happy.

Though sadly, all dreams must come to an end.

I could hear mom screaming, but her words were chopped by the wind. I snapped my eyes open just in time to see dad turning the wheel and swerving the car off the road. The car rolled, my world was a circular blur as it slipped from me, like dust in the wind. I opened my eyes to see the hospital room, and soon after an uncomfortable pain seared across my chest. A solitary tear rolled down my cheek as I felt the familiar sadness well up inside my heart again. Life's constant reminder of what you once had stabbed me in the back every night; well what else would you dream of in a world like this? I wiped the tear from my cheek and looked towards The Kid. He was sleeping in the chair with his head tilted back. I could tell he was dreaming too, with the subtle signs like the slight twitching of his head and his eyes rolling beneath the lids. I grabbed his wrist and tugged on it.

_Wake up._

No response, this kid was deep asleep. I continually began pulling his wrist until I could see him begrudgingly open his eyes and stare at me. Satisfied with my work I dropped his hand and looked up at the ceiling. I couldn't look at him long; he looked too much like Michael, from the black hair, to how he walked. Only after my dream did the sad realization hit. If I didn't know any better I would've thought my brother came back to me, but sadly I _knew _he was long dead.

The Kid got up from his chair and stretched off the morning weariness I assumed, before attending to my wounds. He hand fed me two more pills, and soon the pain elevated from my chest. Now with the pain gone he took my old bandages and wrapped a new layer around me. With his work done, The Kid took a few steps back and leaned against the wall. He was thinking and I knew what he was thinking as a sickening feeling twisted in my stomach. His eyes shifted from my bag, to me, and then to the door.

_No_

He was going to leave me; we had no food, no water, and no medical supplies or weapons. One of us was nothing more than a vegetable for the time being. I didn't know him, and he didn't know me, there would be no remorse. Any sane person would do it, but…please no. He walked towards the door and unlocked it. "I'm going to look for supplies, just stay here and with any luck your wounds will heal soon." He said in a solemn tone.

_No please; don't leave me. _I tried to speak but my throat was stuffed and dry. The Kid looked at me one final time before walking out the door and closing it with a small _click_.

"_NO DON'T GO, PLEASE" _I said hushed tone. My voice was horse and it hurt took speak. Tears ran down my eyes, as I lie in my bed, silently weeping to myself. Beneath the sense of betrayal a tiny thought sparked in my consciousness until it completely engulfed it. I was never going to see my team again. My sobs grew as the thought of never seeing my team took its toll on my emotions. I was going to die here, alone, abandoned by someone I thought I could trust. I lied in that bed for what seemed like hours as I watched the sun sink lower in the sky, some singular part of me waiting for The Kid walking through that door with a bag of supplies, yet he never came back. My sorrow quickly became hatred as I thought of him. I didn't know his name or who he was and yet I loathed him, I cursed every fiber of his being every passing second he didn't come back. But soon my stomach twisted into knots, I hadn't eaten or drank anything in two days. While I shifted in and out of consciousness, in some part of my mind I could hear yelling followed by the sound of a gunshot. It was so distant I could barely hear it but the very sound of wrenched me back into reality. This sparked a singular ember of hope inside me, and it wasn't going out anytime soon. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and got onto my feet. My stomach cramped and my vision swam; slowly but surely I got to the door and grasped the handle. The yelling had stopped, and before I could turn the handle the door swung open, revealing a face I thought I'd never see again. "Zoey!" exclaimed Bill.

XXXXXXXXXX

The three men surprised by the discovery of their lost teammate came into the hospital room. Bill immediately sat Zoey, who began to sway off balance. Zoey looked at the three men in disbelief, she couldn't believe that they were here standing right in front of her. Only a few minutes ago were she so certain of death, but now that certainty was shattered. "Zoey what the hell happened to you?" Bill asked. Zoey looked down at her body with the realization that her jacket and shirt was torn with bloodied bandages wrapped around her. She looked back up at her team and shrugged it off. "Stray Hunter, that's all." She said nonchalantly. The rest of the team clearly didn't buy it. Each of them sat back as if listening to a twelve year old arguing with a look on their faces saying: _Really? _Zoey soon caught on with the rest of them, "I'm serious, it was just a Hunter, I capped the fucker in the head soon after." She explained with a slight tone of offense in her voice. Francis stepped out and spoke for the first time: "I hate bullshit, Zoey even I couldn't hold up against a Hunter if it got me by myself; you've had to at least one other person with you." Zoey eyed Francis with a look of malice across her face, before slumping her back in defeat. "Fine; I was pinned by a Hunter, then this kid came up and stabbed it in the eye, giving me enough time to get a clean shot." She paused her story and looked around at her team. Both Louis and Bill looked at Zoey with interest, keen for her to continue. Francis on the other hand, shook his head and chuckled to himself. "Dumbshit, without that shot you both would've ended up dead; but I'll admit that took some balls, I would've ran the other way if it was me." He spoke to the group. Zoey threw another scowl at Francis before continuing. "That dumbshit saved my life; the Hunter managed to get a few good hits on me before I shot it, and without a moment's notice he came to my aid and patched me up, so I guess not everyone's as much of an asshole as you are Francis" Zoey spat. With sudden realization, Zoey felt torn about that she was defending the person who had left her for dead, but comparatively The Kid wasn't as bad as Francis even if it was by a miniscule amount. Bill seemed to catch on by the look on Zoey's face. "So where is this kid?" Bill asked. Zoey sat there for a few seconds before she answered. "He left me here, he said that he was going to search for supplies, but he never came back" She answered, looking down at her torn jacket and fiddling with the string. The three men looked at each other, all of them knew that Zoey never really took being left behind well, they all knew this from the multiple occasions the three of them left her in a room, and whereupon she began to screech their names despite what situation they were in. However it seems this situation seemed to be worse.

Both Francis and Bill turned to Louis for he is the one could bring the crushing weight of bad news just that little bit softer. Louis stepped out and squatted down in front of Zoey, keeping their eye contact level. "Well Zoey, right when we lost you the entire ground floor was swarmed with infected; we were worried that we'd lost you, because if anybody was down there alone they wouldn't have survived." He explained, in his most calming voice he could muster. Zoey's face was monotone but inside shock, sorrow, and most of all shame swirled inside her. How could she? He had saved her life once, and didn't even receive a simple "thank you" in return. Now he went to go risk his life in order to save her life yet again, and had paid for it with his own, and she loathed him, unknowing what had happened, only assuming the worst of him. Bill then placed Zoey's shoulder. "Come on kid, let's get you patched up and out of here."

Ryan's POV

"Hello, are you okay?" I asked, aiming my flashlight to the girl huddled in the corner. Before I could take one step further the girl snapped her head towards me, revealing two glowing red eyes with the intent of murder. Her hair was bleached white; her hands were covered in blood and at the end of the girl's digits grew claws, these trumped both the Hunters' and the bulbous' claws. Theirs only extended a couple of inches or so, the girl's claws easily extended seven inches from her fingers, all the more reason to run the other way. The infected gaped her mouth and let out a cat-like screech, and charged after me claws poised at my chest. I quickly turned the corner and headed for the front door, I would take my chances with the horde rather than standing my ground against her. I grabbed the door knob and unlocked it. I didn't realize it was too late until I looked over my shoulder and saw the girl was right behind me. She pointed her dagger like claws at me, and as a last ditch effort, I grabbed her by the wrists. The full force of her impact was the equivalent of getting hit by a truck, causing me to fall to the floor.

As I landed, my head hit ground. My vision swam and the familiar skull splitting pain surged throughout my head. Darkness formed in the corners of my eyes as my mind begged to pass out. But another cat like shriek rang in my ears wrenching me back into consciousness. Despite the girl's anorexic appearance, she was strong enough to keep me pinned to the ground, and push her claws closer to my chest. I siphoned all of my energy to keep the claws from getting closer, but to no avail. Her claws were mere inches from my chest, and her face was right in front of my mine. It was no use; my arms ached and were beginning to buckle underneath the pressure, and the girl's face was nose to nose with mine. Across her face she wore a look of absolute loathing, her "eyes" reflected this as well, but within the sea of blood red hatred. Unlike the others the girl's features appeared to have come out unscathed from the infection, except her whole body was a dull gray.

With adrenaline pumping through my veins, and my energy getting sapped away from my attempts of keeping the infected from skewering me, I once again tried to push her back but to no avail. Her claws inched closer to my chest as she shrieked in my face. Anger flamed inside of me; I wasn't going to fucking die, not here, not now; especially not when somebody was depending on me.

_DEFEND YOURSELF_

In an instant I poured all of my strength and pushed her back, the infected realized that she was losing shrieked at me yet again, only fanning the flames. "SHUT UP!" I screamed back, bringing my forehead to her face. She launched backwards away from me, holding her face with her hands. The girl then stood up onto her feet, I scuffled back until I hit the wall, anticipating another attack. The girl dropped her gaze to me, her eyes no longer held rage, but fear and hurt. She then tore her gaze from me and ran away into one of the aisles.

I sat there, sweat running down my face and my heart felt like drum inside my chest. I felt like crying, to just curl up into a ball and just cry until the darkness came back to me. However somewhere deep inside my mind only spat in disdain: _What the hell do you think you're doing? Get the supplies._ Reluctantly, I followed the voice's command and got up back onto my feet. I grabbed my scattered duffle bag and flash light, this time cautious of where I pointed the damn thing. Wary that the infected was still here I searched the exact opposite of where the infected girl ran. The shelves held many things which I had no understanding what so ever, so grabbed what appeared to be useful and stuffed inside the duffle bag. Grabbing one box I noticed on the front it read: **Keep in low temperature**, before stuffing it inside the bag along with everything else. While clearing the shelves I noticed a red pack that in my eyes was salvation, I immediately grabbed it and looked it over. It was exactly the same kind of medical pack The Girl had, I put it into the bag with having that clenched feeling inside my stomach loosen slightly, which almost instantly clenched back up again with a sudden realization: I unlocked the door.

As if on cue the door handle began to turn, excited screeches emanating from the other side of the door. I sprinted towards the door dropping both flashlight and duffle bag on the floor; I slammed the opened door shut and reached for the lock. I had almost reached it when the forces of a dozen bodies crashed into the door. The force pushed me and the door backwards and arms reached through the gap and tried to grab me. The infected grew more excited with the sure knowledge of someone was in the there. I rammed my body into the door, pushing forwards a couple of inches, but soon enough the door began pushing it back again as the increasing amount of bodies pushed against the door. I was trapped with no escape, an army of crazed people bashing down my doors. Now thinking about it, death from razor sharp claws to the heart sounded a whole lot better than whatever hordes of crazed people had in store for me.

With my back against the door, feet planted on the floor, I skidded inch by inch as the door was slowly forced open. My head was racing, I ran through my mind of what I could do. Looking through the room, a hopeful thought of pushing one of the shelves to the door blocking it off was soon crushed by the realization I couldn't even push the shelf in time if I let the door go. After that my mind went blank, I couldn't do anything, there was nothing I could use in here to defend myself; death had its claws firmly dug into me.

Two red orbs to the side of the room caught my eyes again, it was the infected girl. She covered her ears her face twisted in pain, then turned her gaze at me yet again, I was almost afraid that she came back to have her revenge for crashing my forehead against her face, I was in the perfect situation for her: I couldn't defend myself, her own kind were at the front door to back her up, nothing was stopping her. Then she ran back into the aisle, and out of sight, followed by a loud clang sounding across the room. Through the shelves the girl's eyes stared at me a moment longer before disappearing into the wall. "Wait, what?" I mumbled, barely audible with the shrieks of the infected. Then realization hit me like a brick of absolute hope. Remembering the instructions on the box there could only have been one of two things. One: the staff was really fucking lazy. Or two: They kept this room at a low temperature by an air vent.

Everything slowed down, the shrieks and screeches were decreased to muffled chirps. I looked at my duffle bag and flash light on the floor where I so hurriedly threw them, then to the wall where the girl disappeared. I couldn't leave the bag here or my trip would've been useless, yet assessing my chances of grabbing my belongings and throwing them and myself into the air vent before the assembled hordes can lay a finger on me were slim, very, _very _slim. But it was a risk I was willing to take.

In an instant I leapt from the door, swooping down to grab my duffle bag and the flash light from the floor and bolting it towards the vent. I could hear the door behind me burst open and slam into the wall; I reached the vent and threw my stuff into it. The grid lied on the floor, ripped from the wall screws and all. Behind me the sound of a million footsteps, sounded behind me. The vent was in arm's reach as I dug my fingers into the shaft and used the friction of my bare feet to push against the wall, and squeeze into the ventilation shaft. Horrid screams and wails echoed throughout the narrow tunnel. I pushed away from the entrance, just enough to keep myself out of arm's reach.

I lied in the ventilation shaft with my head on the bag, listening to the cries of the infected. Staring out of the opening in the vent, I made sure none of the creatures in the medical supplies room could get into here. Another reason that was keeping me back was, the last thing I needed was going cross paths with that infected girl again, and with any luck giving her a head start to get as far away as possible will ensure that. Though what stopped her from killing me? I was wide open for an attack, yet she ran away and even indirectly helped me get out of there alive. I pondered this for a short while before noticing that the cries were beginning to die down. I wouldn't be able to escape out the front door, but I got up on my hands and knees content with the knowledge that I would not be followed.

The dark ventilation closed in around me, giving me a sense of claustrophobia. I reached out and felt for the familiar shape of the torch and flicked the switch. The tunnel lit before me, dust coated the floor fluttering into the air each passing breath I took. A trail in the dust extended before me and turned around the corner in the far end. I suddenly remembered what was in my bag on the very bottom beneath the boxes of medicine and antibiotics. I pulled out the crumpled map and unfolded it, I scanned across the first floor again and pinpointed where I was in some blank part of the map. The closest destination to me was the laundry which was right across from the kitchens. I folded the map back up and wrapped it around my torch. It wasn't going to be a pleasurable experience but it would get me where I needed to go.

I had been crawling through the shafts for what seemed like hours, the metal groaned underneath my weight, threatening to collapse under the pressure, slowing me down to inching little by little. The dust particles swished in the air, from time to time causing me to choke. Checking my map, I kept track on how far I've gotten. What unnerved me the most was the dust trail was still in front of me no matter how many turns I had taken I was still on the same path as that infected girl. I checked my map again and retraced my steps through my head; the laundry room should be right below me. I crawled forward, looking for an exit out of this hellish tunnel. My searched was met with the feeling of gridded metal on my fingers and a subtle breeze coming from the other side, ironically. I shined my flashlight through the grill and looked through it. I had reached my destination; rows of hampers ran along the walls. I pushed the duffle bag to the other side a examined the grill closer: there didn't seem to be any screws holding the grill in place, which implied that this grill was fitted into place, this meant that this made my job either very easy or exponentially more challenging.

I gripped both of my hands into some kind of fist and slammed it against the grill, immediately regretting doing so right after. Pain bit both of my hands as I cursed to myself and flapped them in some kind of hope to get rid of it. Despite the higher part of my brain whispering to me that it was a stupid Idea, I tried again biting my lip. I repeatedly slammed my fist against the grid until my fists were red and the indentations of the grid dug deep into my skin. Frustrated, I slammed both my hands on the grid, despite the pain. To my surprise one corner of the grid, just slight slid out of place. Inspired, an idea started to form; taking one hand I curled it into a fist and beat the out of place corner like a hammer, slowly moving down the side. The grid slid even more, giving me the signal I was on the right track. I moved up and down the side of the dislodged section, until it popped out of place and clanged against the tiled floor. "Shit" I said, cursing my own stupidity. I waited in the shaft, straining my ears for any sounds of the infected. Nothing but silence met my ears.

I stuffed my flashing in the middle of the duffle bag and dropped it to the floor. Sliding my body, I grab onto the edge and swing out of the vent, before eventually letting go and landing on the tiled floor. Before I did anything else, I immediately checked the front door. I poked my head outside, looking for any infected, but the coast was clear. Bring my head back, I closed the door and locked it, turning on the heels of my feet to face the room. "So, where were we?"

The hampers held the washed clothes of many patients and staff members, containing everything I needed. Dressed in a pair of jeans, a black button shirt, and a trench coat to boot, I stuffed a hoodie and a pair of shorts into the duffle bag. The bag weighed significantly more than I first got it, but it served its purpose, tenfold. I plucked a pair of socks out of a neatly stacked pile and head for the door. Placing my ear to the door I listened for any sound of trouble, but only silence answered. I opened to the door, and silently skimmed across the halls to the doors labeled: **Cafeteria**. Unsurprised I opened the unlocked cafeteria door and headed inside. The entire area was one long hall, lined with tables; the floor was littered with cutlery and trays. I walked over to the entrance to the kitchens and tried the door, as expected it was unlocked. A sneaking sense of suspicion lurched inside me; this all seemed too easy after had crawling through a ventilation shaft to escape increasing hordes of murderous crazed people. Though despite my instincts I opened the door and walked into the kitchen.

Immediately I was met with a disturbing sight: along the walls splattered in red paint (at least I hope it was) were random messages. Across the cabinets one message read: _THEY'RE NOT THE SAME_. Ignoring this, I opened the cabinets searching for anything edible. Turning up empty handed for food with only having found a can opener, I searched frantically determined to find anything, but nothing turned up. I stood opposite from the door I entered from, right above it another message read: _NOT MY EYES_. Eventually I pieced together what should have been obvious. Nothing turned up because it was all taken, probably by the same person who wrote the messages on the wall. On the other side of the kitchen a set of red foot prints went to a heavy metal door at the back of the kitchen. This door was also covered in red paint, this message read: _HE SAID HE WOULD BE BACK_. A smeared hand print drew a line to the door handle, I stood in front of the door, every nerve in my body begging to run away from this place, but like an idiot I grabbed the handle and turned it.

The room before me was a dark void; I then reached into my duffle bag and pulled out the flash light switching it on. The room was lined with shelves, holding a variety of food items. Canned goods, bagged snacks, bottled water, and even fruits and vegetables than have long since rotten, giving off a wretched smell. I pointed my flash light at the floor as I entered the storage room, shedding light on something truly unnerving. Hands painted messages were scrawled across the floor: _ILOVEMYDADDY-DADDYLOVESME-DADDYWILLCOMEBACK-ILOVEM YDADDYSOMUCH-WHYDIDDADDYLEAVEME-DADDDYCOMEBACK-DAD DYCOMEBACK-COMEBACKDADDY. _I pointed my flashlight at the end of the room revealing something that made me realize rotten vegetables weren't the only things giving off a bad smell. At the foot of one of the shelves a small body was curled into a ball and was lying on the floor. The sight made my stomach squirm as I tried not to gag. I pulled out one of the socks and covered my face as I stepped closer to the body.

He looked no older than ten, his face was pale and smeared with red paint, his black hair matted and disheveled, and his eyes were a dead murky grey. All of a sudden, my stomach turned and the side of my head was enflamed in pain. I fell back into the shelves and grabbed on to them as a balance. I shut my eyes and in my head I could see a man standing at the front door, he gave me one last glare before walking out. Pain surged throughout my chest as I felt hot tears roll down my cheeks. I opened my eyes and pulled myself back into the storage room. A sob escaped my throat as I began to curl up, but a familiar shock ran through my head as that voice buzzed in my mind.

_Pull yourself together._

I had no choice but to obey, I was so close; just grab a few supplies and I was out of this mausoleum. Getting back up onto my feet, I curled my fingers the handle of the duffle bag and began gathering food from the shelves. Taking the canned foods from here felt wrong, it was the same as a grave robbery, I felt like at any moment something terrible would spring from the boy's body and take its vengeance upon me for violating its final resting place, like from sort of horror story. Luckily none that happened, just the deafening silence pounding against my ears.

I stood at the door, staring down at the corpse, there was nothing I could do except share my dearest empathy and close the door. Locking the door, I turned around and a walked towards the exit, determined never to look back. Yet something a sharp metallic grey caught my eye, sitting on the kitchen counter was a knife. I stopped for a second and grabbed it, then walked out the door.

The knife in my hand, gave me a sickening sense of security._ So this is how the world is from now on_, I thought to myself. I didn't fully grasp what everything had gone too until I saw that curled body, from now on survival is only guaranteed for those who are willing take the lives of others if it means they get to see the next day, if you don't well that's just too bad.

The halls were abandoned, whatever was here before left in a hurry, possibly from my previous blunder. Luckily enough, nothing I encountered gave me reason to use my newly acquired weapon. I pulled open the **Emergency Exit **door and climbed up the flight of stairs. Even though I searched everywhere from top to bottom I still wasn't able to find a pair of shoes, but I didn't care, all I wanted to do was to head back up to room 236 and be done with the day, I've had enough of this world for now. Howe ever this thought was quickly banished from my mind as I saw a sprawled corpse on the stairs. Bullet wounds pierced through its chest and blood had trickled down each step. I immediately began running up the stairs until the familiar sign of **F6** told me I was on the right floor. I busted through the door as the sight of dozens upon dozens of bodies lied across the hall floor. All of them suffered from shot wounds, telling me that those gunshots I heard earlier probably belonged to whoever mowed through these infected.

I ran down the hall, nearly missing the sign that read: **236**. I wrenched open the door only to find the room was empty, and was long since been abandoned. "God damn it, where did she go?" I asked out loud. Then sickening thought formed in my head. What if they took her? Or even worse had her shot? I scanned the dead corpses in the hallway; none of them seemed to be her, which was somewhat of a relief.

That relief was short lived, as I heard the cries of the undead around the corner. An entire horde of infected turned the corner and spotted me, cries of rage emanated from the wave of people. With that I turned around and ran for my life.

AN: Well then, I'm starting to make a bad habit out of being late. This time though as soon as I began to write this chapter life decided to throw a whole load of different things at me like, school, plans I don't remember making, birthdays, ect. So yes I apologize for the late chapter (bit of a longer one than usual), and I promise I will to the best of my abilities post a new chapter next weekend (fingers crossed.)


	5. Safe House

I ran, sprinting and jumping over the bodies of the dead that the lined the hallway, with a horde of infected snapping at my heels; their shrieks and groans rang in my ears. My bare feet slapped against the tile floor, as I broke off a shudder. One of my feet stepped into a pool of blood from one of the many bodies. The scarlet foot prints trailed behind me, but soon destroyed by thousands of trampling feet. I tore open the emergency exit door and went for the stairs. I scurried down, only glancing back up to the infected momentarily confused with the idea of pulling a door open, but that wouldn't last for long.

My heart skipped a beat in one of my hurried steps down, my blood covered foot slipped causing me to lose my balance and fall. Dropping whatever was in my hands I covered my head with my arms and tumbled down the stairs in a crashed heap. A sharp pain cut across the back of my hand as I landed. Hissing in pain I unwrapped my arms from around my head and grabbed my belongings scattered around me. I rushed down the stair case as I heard the door fly open and the sound of a million footsteps echoed throughout.

I scampered down the stairs until I reached the ground floor; I slipped through the door and grabbed one of the chairs, barring it against the door handle. It wasn't enough to hold them off for long, but enough to buy me some time. I sprinted towards the front doors of the building and pushed on the bar. Outside I was immediately blinded by the light of the sun, stumbling towards the wall for support I allowed my eyes to adjust.

Blinking, I looked at my surroundings. The area around me was quiet, abandoned cars littered the streets. Some were crashed into the windows and walls of the buildings that towered over, other were simply stopped in the middle of the road and were left there to rot. Broken glass and trash was scattered throughout the grounds, causing me to watch my step as I ran away. Running down the street I only stared straight ahead, afraid of might seeing a wave of people surging towards me. As I became far enough away from the building I dared one last look. The chair didn't hold them off for long, but long enough so that I was far away and off their scent. The hospital looked more like a fortress from the position of the torn down exposed streets, yet from experience I knew it was no better than from where I was standing. Turning my back, I walked on down the road facing a setting sun of scarlet.

The buildings to my sides towered over me, casting lengthening shadows and the scarlet sky was cracked with a darker blue. The roads around me were dead silent with only the occasional breeze to break it. A familiar feeling crept up inside me as I walked down this street; I was alone, tired, and abandoned by the world. This feeling felt so familiar, so welcoming, like it was a long lost parent finally getting to hold their child again. No matter what I did nothing could shake it off, it clung to me like a tumor.

I had been walking down the street for what seemed like an hour with no change, the buildings still hung over me, intimidating and unwelcoming. The last of the scarlet sunset faded below the horizon, leaving the darkness to fill in the gaps. Muffled in the distance I could hear the sounds of the infected, apparently excited by the absence of sunlight. Suddenly as if it were clockwork, shambling out of the shadows were numbers of infected gathering into a crowd in the street. I didn't have much time, I had to find a place to hide and sleep for the night, and fast. Looking around I searched for anything that looked safe, what caught my eyes was a painted arrow along the side of an alley wall and underneath it hastily written: _safe house_. I weighed my chances, I had no idea where this could lead me but I had nowhere else to go, and a small number of infected already had noticed me and were starting to run my way. Without thinking twice I ran down the alley, following the painted arrows that pointed towards my salvation or damnation, either way there was no turning back now.

...

I sprinted down the alley way, following the painted arrows that promised survival. I turned the corner and saw at the end a barred door with a messily painted label saying; _safe house_. I looked behind me, the small group of infected swelled into a massive crowd charging towards me. Turning back to the alley way I sprinted towards the barred door, pushing every ounce of energy I had left against the ground. I reached for the handle and opened the door; luckily the door wasn't locked like previous encounters. I slipped through and looked the barred window, the crowd of infected rushed towards me as slammed the door shut and slid the bolts into place. The wave of people crashed into the door, the sudden impact sent me flying a couple of yards away from it. Their outraged cries and shrieks rang throughout the small house as the slammed their fists against the metal door and attempted to reach through the barred window. Picking myself up, I backed as far as I possibly could before collapsing with my back to the wall. Realizing I hadn't eaten or drank since who knows when, and only managed to get this far on an empty stomach and the sheer will to survive, it had finally taken a toll on me.

My whole body ached, my throat burned, and I began to shift in and out of consciousness. I shook myself awake and as fast as I could I looked through my bag for food and water. I grabbed one of the water bottles and twisted off the cap, gulping down the entire bottle in a matter of seconds I crushed the plastic bottle and grabbed another. I drank whatever water I could find until the burning thirst was quenched. I sat back against the wall as I felt a small amount of energy drip back into my arms and legs. After sitting there for a few minutes I finally sat back and grabbed one of the cans of beans I stowed away in my bag. Picking it up, I turned the can in my hands examining the labels. It was one of those big brand kinds of companies that sold baked beans and only baked beans. Personally I never quite understood how they were so suc-what the hell was I doing? _Food_. I grabbed the can opener from one of trench coat pockets and began my work on the lid. In no time at all I had ripped the can lid off and was guzzling down baked beans due to the lack of cutlery. "Should've picked out one of those packs while I was in the cafeteria but oh well" I said to no one in particular and I opened up another can of baked beans.

With myself fully fed I got up from the floor and decided to check my surroundings. The "house" consisted mostly of one room with only a small room to the side dedicated to a single toilet that gave off a horrid smell, deciding I'd rather hold it in no matter how bad it got instead of using that toilet I moved to the rest of the room. It looked more like a kitchen than it did anything else; cabinets lined the upper walls with a counter continuously running along the four walls of the room only broken up by a singular stove, with a lonely mattress stuffed in the corner. The whole place felt lived in and warm to the casual traveler, despite no one being here.

My immediate reaction was to check all the cabinets and see if I can find anything of use. However before I could check the cabinet closest to me I noticed a small clipboard lying on the counter in front of me, just begging for me to flip through. Attached to it was a small and rundown pencil, weary of who knows how long and much abuse. On the clip board written on top of the first page read: _Name, Date, and Advice. _This struck me as odd until my eyes trailed down the lists of names and dates. Below the title someone wrote down: _Alex Freeman, _

_10/5/13, my advice….Don't trust the crying women, NEVER trust the crying women. _

I remarked this advice with somewhat of a hint of humor, chuckling in the back of my throat as if I was just included in an inside joke of some kind. Moving down the list of names, someone wrote down:

_Amber Green, 9/17/13, if you hear someone sniffing-run, don't even stop to think just run or it will find you._

Striking me as odd and somewhat frightening I remembered just what kind of shit this world can produce now. The lists of names continued throughout all the pages of the clipboard front and back, too many for me to care about. I set down the clipboard and began to search through the cabinets.

To my surprise nearly all the cabinets stored food and water, free to ogle at and take. As I searched through the last cabinet my eyes immediately fell upon the revolver lying on the bottom shelf with a piece of paper lying next to it. I cautiously picked up the gun and piece of paper, messily written it read: _To the defenseless_. Well; I had no weapon besides the kitchen knife that was thrown to the floor, so I would think I qualified as defenseless. Looking back into the cabinet I noticed stowed in the back was a small box; reaching farther back and grasped the tiny box. On closer examination it was actually a box that stored revolver rounds inside, which had relieved the small knot inside my stomach.

A pain ran across the back of my hand as I suddenly had remembered my trip down the stairs. Walking back to my bag I unzipped the opening and searched for the medical kit. Most of the medical supplies I managed to scavenge were crushed by the cans of food I so hurriedly thrown inside, such a shame. The medical kit lied at the bottom of the bag; I picked it up and unzipped it. Using my mediocre medical skills I uncapped the anti-biotic and dabbed it across the cut, after what I felt was enough anti-biotic cream to pulverize every bacteria into a pitiful heap I took a length of gauss and wrapped it gingerly around my hand. I looked at my knife which I had so casually thrown to the side and noticed a scarlet stain smeared across the edge of the blade. "Oh" I thought out loud, "That would explain it" I said leaning my head back against the wall and wondering how someone of my level of ineptitude and stupidity could have possibly made it this far.

...

The light now began to get dimmer as the waves of infected pounded against the door. I reached inside one of the cabinets that had stored camping supplies and pulled out a small gas fueled lantern and a box of matches. I turned the dial on the lantern and could hear the sound of releasing gas as I fumbled a match out of the box and stroke it against the ignition strip. I brought the lit match to the glass container and soon enough the gasses ignited and caught the mesh inside aflame, sending a warm and gentle light across the entire room. I picked up the lantern and brought it over to one of the many cabinets that line the walls. I opening the doors the lantern's light shone upon an enormous pile of books, sloppily stacked on top of each other. Grabbing a section out of the pile I sat down on the floor and began to sort them out. Most of them ironically were zombie apocalypse based books, titles like: "The Forest of Hands and Teeth", "The Dead -Tossed Waves", even "Warm Bodies". Chuckling to myself I looked at the books I held in my hands with a sort of admiration, I had read these books front to back I knew every character and plot twist those words could provide, it felt nice to hold something that felt warmly familiar in a world like this. I set down the books and sorted through the pile I set besides me. The rest of the books were mostly soppy love stories and mystery novels, none of which I had any interest for, then I saw it, sitting there like a prideful cat on top of a pile of clothing. I took the book in my hands and felt the cover page. Tracing "Harry Potter" on the cover I flipped open the first couple of pages and looked it over. I looked back over to the bolted door, the crowd of infected lessened as the hours ticked by, but some persistent stragglers stayed behind, whose moans and screams I could hear quite clearly. I wasn't going to be able to fall asleep anytime soon, but this would help. Closing the book and picking up the lantern I walked back to the mattress with my newly acquired revolver sitting on top, bundling up my trench coat and using it as support for me head I laid back and escaped into a different world that I gladly welcomed ever so dearly.


	6. Collaspe

I was standing in the middle of a small bedroom, the morning sunlight slicing through the shades that covered the window. My body was frozen, my arms and legs were bound together by invisible chains, I could only stand still and look at my surroundings. The room I was in was considerably small in size, barely able to fit one dresser, a desk, and bed. The desk was covered with random papers that varied from indistinguishable scribbling to cramped and extensive hand-written essays. Tearing my attention away from the desk, I looked over to the bed shoved into the corner. A lump the size and shape of a small body was laid down and covered by a large quilt. I could hear the gentle exhale as the lump underneath the quilt slowly rose and fell. Despite the miniscule size of the room it never felt claustrophobic; in fact it felt inviting and homey, wrapping around me like a mother's arms. Even though I couldn't close my eyes, I let my mind relax and for one second, one glorious second I felt happy. But sadly my happiness never seemed to last long. Two people began yelling in the next room behind me, their voices booming through the wall. Despite how loud they screamed I couldn't understand a word they said. Out of the corner of my eye I could see whoever was lying in the bed stirring, eventually the kid rolled out of bed and landed flat on the floor. The resounding impact seemed to jolt the kid awake, he then got up and onto his feet and started walking towards the door, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

Then it hit me, realization dripped into my consciousness like a painter splattering water colors across a page, and this picture was one the worst moments of my life. Suddenly my invisible chains broke, freeing me as I fell onto the floor. I immediately scrambled onto my feet and reached for my ten year-old self. I could have stopped him, arrested him from opening the door and seeing what had haunted me and taken away months-years of my life. However when I tried to grab myself, my hands simply passed through like a ghost. At that moment I was dead, a mere imprint of consciousness chained to this moment and left horrified only able to watch as the scene unfolded.

My past self reached out and twisted the door knob, opening a scene that I've repeated inside my head so many times. There my dad was, standing in the middle of the door way arguing with my mom. The early morning light shined through silhouetting my dad, obscuring his face. Despite having the shadow across his face I could feel him turn his gaze towards me. Whatever he and my mom were talking about was immediately dropped. My mom followed dad's gaze and immediately saw my ten year old self. Her express softened, yet became sadder at the same time. Before she could even say anything my dad pushed open the door and looked back towards my ten year-old self. A look of absolute disappointment was smeared across his face; he regarded me then walked out the door.

My face burned and I clenched my fists, fury coursed through my body. I began sprinting across the living room, towards the door. I would grab the son of a bitch and drag him back inside, make him apologize to my mom then to me for ruining six years of my life. However as soon as I had reached the door I fell to the floor writhing in pain, it felt as if someone struck me on the side of the head with a base ball bat. Tears rolled down my eyes as the living room around me began to dissolve and disappear as if all of it was made of nothing but mist.

I opened my eyes to see my book sitting on my face, I could feel tears stream down my cheeks. I picked up _Harry Potter _off my face and snapped it shut, getting off the bed I began to pull together my belongings as I got ready to move out of the safe house. Admittedly it wasn't the brightest thing to do however I wasn't going to stay here another night with the swarms of mindless flesh eating mutants knocking at my door. Despite how bleak things seemed now I was inspired to move on, that list of what people wrote gave me faith that there was at least _somebody _out there who was still human. Thinking of humans a small wave of sadness washed over me, I nearly had forgotten about the girl who just disappeared, despite not knowing her at all I felt guilty for her go so easily. On top of that my dream left me shaken, I knew it wasn't just a dream but part of me refused to take it as reality, maybe waking up with no memory was a gift.

With my bag in one hand and a revolver in the other I could only imagine how strange I must have looked as I walked out of the bolted door into the bright sunlight. As I passed by I could the steel door, it had large dents and a few of the bars seemed to be ripped out of the small window, this only reinforced my feeling that it was best to move on. To my surprise the alley way had next to no infected as I jogged by, all small group of them seemed to be busy with something paying me no attention, I shuddered to think what they could be so immersed in and didn't want to stick around to find out. I slipped by them without a sound and continued on to the main road.

I grabbed as much food and water as I could from the safe house and shoved it into my bag, the increased weight now made the handle cut into my hand and my shoulder ache from exhaustion as I trudged on down the road. I looked straight ahead of and could see miles away from where I was, that was the good thing about Florida it's nice and flat. However the sun beamed down onto the road, heating up the rough asphalt and began to burn my feet with each step I took. It wasn't long until I began hopping towards the shade avoiding any uncovered ground. I stopped right in front of a store-well from a couple of observations and an educated guess I decided it at least _was _a store. A small neon sign read: **JustFab. **I looked back to the street behind me, it was eerily quiet nothing roamed the streets, which was very strange considering I saw a small group of infected wandering around a couple of miles back. But that wasn't what worried me the most, but made me uneasy is that I felt watched, I could easily feel hundreds of eyes watching me, just waiting. On my way here I saw out of the corner of my eye figures stepping forward a couple of inches but immediately slinking back into the darkness. Something was coming and it wasn't good.

I stepped towards **JustFab** and treaded carefully towards the door. The large glass windows on either side had shattered, spreading a million pieces of glass onto the side walk. Watching my step, I opened the door and walked through. Despite the time of day, the store was nearly pitch-black. I reached into my bag and fished out my flash light. Switching on the light I saw what mess lay before me, racks of clothes were scattered across the floor, glass stands holding miscellaneous objects were smashed, and as I shined my flashlight to the cashier desk I saw a hand on the floor digging into the ground as if it was trying to escape. I averted my eyes and concentrated on something else, my stomach squirmed threatening to expel what little breakfast I had that morning. That was when I noticed the ceiling; a large crack ran through the entire store, the ceiling was dipping into the room created a sort of V-shape; the only thing that was holding the wreck up was a pair of small pillars, their plaster cracking underneath the pressure. This place was collapsing in on itself and I didn't know how much time I had before it eventually did.

My heart race, I scanned the entire store looking for what I needed. I sped down the aisles, grabbing a packet of socks as I ran by. I desperately needed a pair of shoes, not many people would list shoes as a top ten priority on their post-apocalyptic plans, however in the middle of a city full of shattered glass on cooking asphalt you'd be dead wrong. I'd finally reached the aisle lined with adult shoes and began to rip through trying them on as quickly as possible. I was in the middle of trying on my sixth pair when I noticed the enormous set of foot prints imbedded into the floor. I froze in terror, what the hell could have made those? In my momentary silence I could hear sniffing ripple through the store. In a split moment I connected all the pieces together that created a situation that would likely kill me instantly.

In the list someone named Amber Green had written about the sniffing, I never gave much thought about it until I realized maybe the reason why no infected paid me any attention was because something much more powerful was on my trail, and the final piece that fitted the puzzle, the giant set of foot prints before me. They all fitted together perfectly, and I could hear a little sarcastic voice in my head say: _Have fun._ After my small revelation I nearly failed to notice that the sniffing had stopped, silence pounded against my ears as I listened for any sniff or foot step whatsoever. Nothing…I took in a sigh of relief as I lifted my flashlight back to the shoe racks, immediately after a deafening roar rumbled through the entire building and a dark shadow surged towards my head. I ducked to the floor as the cashier desk flew over my head and crashed into the wall behind me. I got up and onto my feet and sprinted out of the aisle, whatever had thrown the desk was now after me. I shined the flash light at my attacker and nearly had a stroke, now imagine a bulky weight lifter, now imagine that his upper body muscles were so huge that he resembled a chimpanzee and often had to use his own arms as legs; that should give you the idea of what my attacker looked like. His pale skin was blotched with agitated patches of infected cuts; he was missing his lower jaw so his tongue flapped around wildly whenever he moved.

My immediate instinct was to pull up my revolver a fire a couple of shots, despite my in-experience with ever shooting a gun my target was so large that if I'd have missed I'd probably would have been able to miss the broad side of a barn as well. The bullets embedded themselves into the monster's body with a sickening _squelch_. However this seemed to more irritate the monster rather than it did any physical damage, no matter how many shots I pulled off the creature would just tanked it through and lumber towards me faster, but that didn't stop me. I pulled the trigger as many times as I could before the sharp _click_ told me that I was out of bullets. "Shit" I thought out loud before jumping to one side as the "Tank" I now officially dubbed it barreled past me. It crashed into the wall shaking the whole building, the ceiling above me collapsed a little bit lower, giving me an insane idea. I glanced towards the two pillars; their cracks were even deeper now due to the Tank's little bluster. My eyes shot over to the Tank which was still paralyzed from its stampede into the wall, this gave me enough time to drop my bag to the floor and run to the pillars right before the Tank came to its senses.

"HEY SHIT FOR BRAINS, OVER HERE" I yelled at the Tank trying my best to antagonize him. I guess my little jeer worked as it locked onto me and began to charge. Time seemed to slow down, I could see the Tank running full on head first towards me, my eyes darted to the bag and then to the front entrance, I wasn't get much time, but if I got out in time it would save my sorry ass from getting pummeled into the wall behind me. I needed just the right moment, waiting until the very last moment with the Tank only a few feet in front of me I rolled to the side and let him crash into the two pillars. Just as I expected the ceiling immediately began to cave in only giving me a few seconds. I grabbed my bag and sprinted towards the door, behind me I heard the Tank give an outraged roar as I ran through the entrance. "RAAA-"was the only thing he managed before tons of plaster and concrete crashed on top of him.

The entire building behind me came down in a crash, I rolled out of the way before it collapsed on me as well, the glass on the ground cut into my hands and feet, but I couldn't give a damn. A cloud of dust billowed out from the crash and surrounded me; I sat there on the asphalt dumbfounded. Had I actually just made out a collapsing building with an infected body builder on my trail? I felt my chest and face to see if I was solid and sure enough my bloodied fingers bumped up against my skin. I bolted onto my feet, ignoring the sharp pain of glass and gave out a triumphant cheer. However that cheer was soon cut off by the sight of four figures having their guns pointed at my chest and head. The cloud of dust soon settled and I could see the four more clearly now. Before I could take a longer look at any of them a gruff voice to my left that belonged to what I could assume was an old veteran with a grayed beard and a cigarette sticking out of his mouth said: "Now who the fuck are you?"

(Evening, first off before anything else I just want to say that I am truly sorry, I have no idea how I could hold off on this chapter for that long, it just seems that whenever I start writing this chapter the purest essence of procrastination started dripping out of my ears. With the apologies aside I will TRY to resume the promised schedule of a chapter per week-once in a blue moon, with the wind blowing in the right direction, any way I hope by the time you read this you have enjoyed this chapter and I will see you in the next one.)


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